After all the unforeseen twists and turns of the Democratic race for president this year, after all the times we thought one particular primary or interest group would be the one that would prop one candidate above all others, it is Latino voters in Texas who finally may determine who will be the Democratic nominee.

Latinos make up more than one-third of the voters in Texas. If Latino Democrats vote as a united bloc on March 4 for Sen. Hillary Clinton, as has been widely expected, they surely will save her derailed candidacy and send her to the Democratic National Convention with enough delegates to compete for the nomination. But if a significant number of Texas Latinos shift to Sen. Barack Obama, as is entirely possible, say adios to Hillary!

The question now is whether Latinos in Texas will follow the pro-Clinton voting patterns of states such as Nevada and California, where Latinos gave Clinton the margin of victory.

Some political observers want us to believe there is a "great divide" between Latinos and African-Americans. They want us to believe many Latinos simply won't vote for a black candidate because of racial reasons.

That's hogwash. In many cities across this country, African-Americans have been elected because of the support they enjoyed from Latinos. Sure, there are a few Latino racists, as there are in any group, who will base their votes on skin pigmentation, but they are a miniscule minority.

The reality is that Latino Democrats are voting exactly as African-Americans would be voting if there were no black candidate in the competition. In fact, if Obama weren't running, the African-American vote for Clinton would be even more solid than the Latino vote.

Let's not forget that Bill Clinton was once considered "America's first black president," and it's because of him that Hillary Clinton always has enjoyed tremendous support from blacks and Latinos.

If it were a Latino candidate running a tight race against Clinton, the overwhelming majority of African-Americans would still be on Clinton's side.

But it has nothing to do with some fictitious "great divide" between blacks and Latinos; it's about old alliances with the Clintons.

In most major urban areas, Hispanic politicians jumped on the Clinton bandwagon long before anyone thought Obama had a chance of doing as well as he has. These Latino politicians laid the groundwork of support for Clinton among Latino voters. In the barrios, the political machines that had supported Bill Clinton were set in motion long before Obama reached out to Latinos outside of his home state of Illinois. It was as if Obama was running against an incumbent.

Nevertheless, Obama has been making great strides among Latinos. After all, what he needed was time to demonstrate that on the issues that are important to Latinos — especially immigration — he is the only candidate who has been on their side consistently.

Instead of asking whether Texas Latinos can save Clinton's candidacy, we should be asking whether they should !

After all, it was Clinton who recently got rid of her Latina campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle. It was Clinton who flip-flopped, for and against, granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. And it was Clinton who told black voters she felt their pain, moments after Obama had the courage in a debate to explain that unemployment in the inner cities should not be blamed on illegal immigrants. It was Obama who had the courage to call such reproach by its proper name: "scapegoating." It is Obama who has taken the cry of illegal immigrants — "Sí, Se Puede/Yes, We Can" — and made it his own.

If that's the message Obama takes to Texas in the next two weeks, if he reminds Latino voters it is he who has been running the "straight talk express" regarding immigration, he could win enough Latino votes to take Texas, the Democratic nomination — and maybe even the presidency.

If Bill Clinton could be the first black president, Obama certainly can be the first Latino "presidente" of the United States.

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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